Note: Don't put this into your autoload folder. Instead, please unzip contingency.wz, and move THAT into your autoload folder. (.wz files can be opened like .rar or .zip files using programs like WinRAR or 7-zip.)

Readme file and optional tier-limiting mods included. Also incorporates a modified version of NoQ's Ultimate Scavengers Mod (though whether or not you wish to play with the Scavengers AI on is also optional).

Has NullBot Contingency v2.0 and Ultimate Scavengers AI built in, bot doesn't include the Tier Limiting mods.Note: Requires Warzone 2100 version 3.1 rc3 or higher. May work with earlier 3.1 versions, though there's no guarantees that it would work. Doesn't yet work with the 3.2 series (although it's planned for the future). Will NOT work with the version 2.3.x series.

Note: This mod is likely incompatable with most other mods out there, including map-mods. However, efforts are being made to gradually increase this mod's compatability with other mods, or (more likely) create modified versions of existing mods that are more compatable with Contingency.

I've also started work on developing a modified version of NullBot for Contingency (titled NullBotSW). Later, I plan on working on a completely new AI for Contingency called ShadowBot.

Future plans:- New models for the new bodies.- New models for the new Cyborgs' turrets.- New research messages.- Remastered versions of some old maps, like Vision or Fishnets.- The ability for map editors to place Contingency (and Ultimate Scavenger Mod) resources onto their custom maps, including unit templates and some new features like destructible debris. (This is now possible now that the upload size limit has been increased to 10 MB.)

Known issues:- When more than 5 factories are present, Commanders have issues with assigning factories to them. See ticket #3521.- Also, when more than 5 factories are present, the player's ability to order trucks to build more of them is removed, even if he/she hasn't reached the factory limit yet. However, demolishing factories until the player is below 5 factories seems to solve the problem, somewhat. See ticket #3775.- There are far too many structures for the construction menu to handle when using the debug menu or the "give all" cheat.- There are too many turrets for the design screen to handle when using the "give all" cheat.- Whenever players research everything, several structures (prior to version 0.5.1, these were mostly fortresses and firebases) become unavailable due to limits on how many structures appear on the construction menu.- There seems to be an issue with saving games while having more than 1 mod loaded at a time. See ticket # 3816. Because of this, I've decided to offer an alternate version of Contingency with NullBot and Ultimate Scavengers AI built in.

Tips and tricks:

General Tips:

- Tank Traps are researchable very early in the game, and can allow players to quickly erect cheap barricades to prevent enemy trucks from sneaking past some defenses. They also have more HP-per-price than Hardcrete Walls, so they're excellent for slowing down an advancing army.-- Retractable Tank Traps are also available for those who'd like to let their own units pass by such a defense.- When going for more advanced bodies, keep in mind that they have smaller engines, so players should invest some research into improving engine power to keep them from being slowed down by their own weight.- Weapons with a higher damage-per-shot can better penetrate heavy armor, but are more prone to overkill when used against smaller targets, while weapons with a higher rate-of-fire are less prone to overkill, but have more trouble penetrating through heavily-armored targets.- While Cyborgs may be easy to kill, they're also incredibly cheap and quick to build. Also, many weapons that could one-shot a Cyborg, like Heavy Cannons or Lancers, are better suited to dealing with heavier, more expensive vehicles.- Many Cyborgs are able to target both ground and air units, including Machinegunners, Shotgunners, Minipod Cyborgs, and Laser Gunners. While they generally aren't as effective against VTOLs as dedicated anti-air weapons like the Hurricane or the Stormbringer, they can be useful if your opponent has rushed VTOLs early-game.- Accuracy upgrades are useful if you need to focus fire on certain threats, but are otherwise of little use against large groups of units.- In the early-game, a Bug body with Half-Tracked propulsion can mount any of the 2000 weight weapons, including the Heavy Machinegun, Light Cannon, and Mini-Rocket Pod, without being slowed down. A Viper body with Tracked propulsion isn't weighed down either, though Tracks appear much later in a match.- Hover propulsion is heavy. Without engine upgrades, many higher-tiered bodies would be weighed down just by their own weight alone.- Beware of Green Mud and Slush. They will slow down anything, even Cyborgs, that isn't a hovercraft or VTOL, or is a Wheeled, Tracked, or Half-Tracked vehicle with less engine power than twice their weight. (-50% engine power to all units except for Hovercraft and VTOLs.)- Roads and paved surfaces provide +50% engine power to Wheeled, Half-Tracked, or Tracked vehicles, while Water provides +50% engine power to Hovercraft. Keep that in mind if your playing on a map with lots of pavement and/or water.- You could potentially throw your opponent off-guard by switching from using kinetic weapons to thermal weapons, or vice-versa. For example, you could switch from using Cannons, Machineguns, or Rockets to using Lasers (which have been moved to T2), or you could devote some research into Flamers in order to unlock some incendiary weapons for your primary weapon line.- Many exotic weapons await those players or teams that branch out into more than one weapon line at a time, including Gattling Cannons, Plasma Cannons, Plasma Lasers, beam-powered missiles, Jet-Assisted Cannons, and guided Howitzers to name a few.- Anti-air weapons typically require accuracy upgrades in the weapon line, while weapons with a higher rate-of-fire, such as Twin Assault Guns, Assault Cannons, and Twin Minipods, typically require rate-of-fire upgrades, and weapons with more damage-per-shot, such as Heavy Cannons and Vulcan Gattling Guns, typically require damage upgrades.-- However, Howitzers and Hyper-Velocity Cannons require accuracy upgrades, Lancers require accuracy and damage upgrades, and Mini-Rocket Arrays require damage and rate-of-fire upgrades.-- T2 Cannon upgrades are required in order to unlock T2 Railgun upgrades. However, at T3, Cannons and Railguns share the same research upgrades.- Fixed-mounted versions of some weapons, such as Heavy Cannons or Gauss Cannons, may be cheaper and weigh less than their counterparts, while still having the same degree of firepower as them, but they cannot fire on the move or turn, which makes them vulnerable to flanking maneuvers, or when retreating from a failed battle.- Fortresses and firebases, as well as the LasSat Command Post and Satellite Uplink, are expensive structures, and take a long time to build, which is why players require Engineering upgrades to build them.- Ultra-heavy, multi-turreted bodies such as the Couatl, Abaddon, and Dragon require factory upgrades in order to unlock due to how expensive and time-consuming they are to produce.- Currently, structures mounting T2 weapons require Supercrete, T3 weapons require Plascrete, and cross-weapon-line T3 weapons require Plasteel to unlock, so if you don't see any defenses that mount those weapons to research, then you may have to research more "Structure Materials" upgrades (which are needed to research more durable defense bases like Supercrete Hardpoints or Plascrete Bunkers).- While Wind Turbines don't require any oil to generate power, they provide so little power for their cost compared to Oil Derricks that players should consider capturing oil resources instead, unless they can't readily capture any more oil, or wish to turtle.

Here's my opinion on each of the 4 major weapon lines (machineguns, cannons/railguns, rockets, and lasers):

Machineguns:- Due to their low damage-per-shot, Machineguns tend to have trouble penetrating heavy armor.- On the other hand, due to their high rate-of-fire, Machineguns tend to be less affected by overkilling enemy units. Because of this, they're quite efficient against groups of Cyborgs, VTOLs, and light tanks. Heck, even the Vulcan, Punisher, and Hellfury, despite being designed as anti-tank weapons, can mow down groups of Cyborgs because of their high rate-of-fire.- The Machinegun line, due to a nasty combination of low damage-per-shot and small salvo size, is lacking in terms of initiative compared to the other major weapon lines, so players will often need to focus on improving their survivability with heavier bodies and armor upgrades if they wish to play to the line's strengths and minimize their weaknesses. (NullBotSW's Machinegun personality uses this playstyle.)- They need to wait until mid-T2 until they can get their 1st anti-tank weapon, the Punisher.- They lack a strong anti-structure weapon, so they'll need to depend on weapons from outside their weapon line for use against Bunkers and Fortresses, such as the Proto-Railgun (which they'll need for T3 Machineguns anyways), Ground Shaker Howitzers, and Oblivion Cruise Missiles (I've decided to start calling TBMs "tactical cruise missiles" since not all of them follow ballistic arcs). Thankfully, the Proto-Railgun is relatively easy to research, requiring Light Cannon, Factory Module, and Dedicated Synaptic Research Data Analysis Mk2 to unlock, and starts with high base stats to boot.- All Cyborg and VTOL-mounted weapons in this line are capable of attacking enemy VTOLs in addition to ground units, though the more dedicated vehicle-mounted AA weapons (such as the Tornado and Hurricane) tend to perform much better due to having a greater range.

Cannons/Railguns:- Fairly well-rounded line with a mix of heavy-hitting Heavy Cannons and rapid-firing Assault Cannons.- Although they have lower initiative than the Rocket and Laser lines, Cannons (especially Tankbuster Cannons) can be adopted in a more offensive playstyle that emphasizes using cheap, fast, lightly-armored units over slower, more expensive, heavily-armored units.- On the other hand, Assault Cannons would probably be best mounted on more heavily-armored units due to a combination of high rate-of-fire and low damage-per-salvo.- Although Heavy Cannons have a high damage-per-shot, making them effective against heavy armor, their low rate-of-fire makes them vulnerable to overkilling enemy units. Try to avoid pitting them against Cyborgs when possible.- Twin Assault Cannons and the Blunderbuss/Scattershot are generally not as effective against Cyborgs as the Machinegun line's own weapons.- An Assault Cannon mixed in with a group of Heavy Cannons may allow a group to more efficiently take out enemy units by minimizing overkill.- The Proto-Railgun is located within this weapon line. While deadly against structures and heavy tanks, the Proto-Railgun is very heavy, requiring a heavy body just to support the fixed-mounted version of the weapon. Moreover, due to its very low rate-of-fire and very high damage-per-shot, the Proto-Railgun will almost certainly require support from other units.- Fixed-Mounted Cannons must stand still to fire, and cannot rotate their turrets, making them vulnerable when retreating.- The Cyborg and VTOL-mounted versions of the Blunderbuss and Scattershot can hit enemy VTOLs, though other Cyborg and VTOL weapons cannot.

Rockets:- A jack-of-all-trades line with anti-personnel weapons, anti-tank weapons, anti-structure weapons, and even long-range artillery weapons.- The Rocket line plays very well when adapted for a more offensive playstyle that emphasizes using cheap, fast, lightly-armored units armed with Lancers or MRAs, though the rapid-firing Minipods are more suitable for a more defensive playstyle.- Although the Minipod has a much higher rate-of-fire, and similar damage-per-shot to, a Light Cannon, it suffers from poor accuracy. In fact, in a 1-vs-1 fight with a Light Cannon, the Minipod will often lose, though in a more massive firefight, stray rockets may hit nearby enemy units.- The Minipod (and its more advanced counterparts) is the only vehicle-mounted weapon in Contingency that can target both ground and air units. Moreover, its more advanced counterparts, the Rocket Assault Pod and Erinyes Missile Pod, are the only T2 and T3 close-ranged all-rounder weapons in Contingency.- Ripple Rockets and Archangel Missiles are the only long-ranged all-rounder weapons in Contingency.- Often has early access to Cruise Missiles such as the Harbinger and Oblivion due to them requiring Ripple Rockets as a prerequisite.- The Lancer is the earliest available anti-tank weapon in Contingency, and has a higher damage-per-salvo (for its cost) than a Heavy Cannon.- The MRA has better initiative than most other T1 weapons due to its long range (that is only surpassed by Mortars) and high damage-per-salvo. It's T2 and T3 counterparts, the Rocket Assault Array and Seraph Missile Array respectively, have ranges on par with Mortars.- Lancers, Bunker Busters, MRAs, Ripple Rockets, Sunbursts, and Solar Flare SAMs all possess very long reloading times, requiring more micromanagement from players to ensure that they're used effectively.- A handful of Minipods mixed in with a group of Lancers may allow a group to more efficiently take out enemy units by minimizing overkill.- Most weapons in this line tend to require more types of upgrades (like accuracy and damage upgrades for the Lancer, Tank Killer, and Scourge, and ROF and damage upgrades for the MRA, Rocket Assault Array, and Seraph) than weapons from other lines.- Most VTOL weapons here have small ammo capacities, making them good at quickly taking down enemy units and structures en-masse with minimal exposure to AA fire, though individually, their damage-per-rearm may not be as good as other weapon lines' VTOL weapons.- The only weapon line to have dedicated AA weapons for Cyborgs and VTOLs in the form of the Sunburst and Solar Flare SAMs (and their T3 counterparts).

Lasers:- A weapon line that sacrifices some damage-per-second for longer range (and better initiative).- Only outranged by Mortars and Rocket Assault Arrays.- May require sensor support and/or sensor upgrades to put their superior range to good use.- Players may wish to focus on speed to take advantage of their superior range.- Only available at T2.- Can potentially be more viable than any of the other major weapon lines (especially if research-rushing for it) due to much higher base stats on their weapons (that are on-par with other weapon lines' stats if they researched a few damage and rate-of-fire upgrades).- Flamer users may wish to specialize in this weapon line due to the above reasons.- May potentially throw players off-guard due to their focus on dealing thermal damage instead of kinetic damage.- Unlike with the Machinegun and Cannon lines, the Laser line doesn't have as great of a need for Mortars. However, it can still benefit greatly from long-range artillery, though whether to pursue Howitzers or Cruise Missiles is more of a matter of preference.- The anti-tank Laser Cannon is researchable not long after researching the anti-personnel Light Laser.- Although anti-personnel lasers have longer reloading times than Machineguns, they fire in salvos (that mimic continuous laser beams), making their already superior initiative (provided by their longer range) even better.- Anti-personnel lasers are unlikely to overkill enemy units, though anti-tank lasers do have that risk.- A handful of lighter units mounting Laser Cannons mixed in with a group of heavier units mounting Heavy Laser Cannons may allow a group to more efficiently take out enemy units by minimizing overkill.- Sonic Disrupters, a special ultra-heavy T3 anti-structure weapon, are ineffective against anything that isn't a structure.- Fixed-Mounted Laser Cannons must stand still to fire, and cannot rotate their turrets, making them vulnerable when retreating.- All Cyborg and VTOL-mounted weapons in this line are capable of attacking enemy VTOLs in addition to ground units, though the more dedicated vehicle-mounted AA weapons (such as the Stormbringer and Tempest) tend to perform much better due to having a greater range.

Some opinions of the other weapons:- Flamer users would most likely need to focus on speed and durability in order to get Flamers close enough to their targets for them to work well. Otherwise, the opponent could kite them and pick them off from a distance.- Flamer specialists may find lasers to be the most viable weapon line to pursue to complement them. In addition to having access to anti-air and anti-structure weapons (which the Flamer line lacks), Lasers typically have longer ranges than most other direct-fire weapons in their tier, allowing players to kite with them, just as players would normally kite against Flamers. However, keep in mind that enemy players may anticipate this and invest more heavily into thermal armor upgrades.- On the other hand, flamers can be used early to trick opponents into investing in thermal armor upgrades, which won't help much if the Flamer user later decides to not specialize into Flamers, and instead specialize into either Machineguns, Cannons, or Rockets, and use the early Flamer research to unlock incendiary weapons from those weapon lines.- Although Bombards and Howitzers are classified as anti-personnel weapons, they're actually designed to deal heavy damage to tanks and structures (except for bunkers), especially if they can land a direct hit on them.- Cruise Missiles such as the Harbinger, Hellshaker, and Armageddon, may be powerful, but their extremely-long reloading times may prohibit players from building emplacements mounting them (unless as expendable counter-battery structures), and instead mount them onto vehicles that could then be assigned to certain sensors and ordered to fire on select targets as needed.- Like VTOL weapons from the Rockets line, Bombs can be used to quickly take out enemy targets, though due to their short range, VTOL bombers may need some protection from AA fire (probably not as much as Machinegun, Cannon, or Laser VTOLs though) in order to survive long enough to return to base, or to even reach their targets.- Hijacker turrets, due to their short range, are best used against isolated targets. Players may also need to focus on improving speed and durability (as with Flamers) if using them against small groups of units or defenses.

By the way, if you'd like to help create a guide for this mod (I'm already busy as is, sadly ), you can do so at Wikizone 2100.

Last edited by Shadow Wolf TJC on 14 Mar 2013, 20:10, edited 66 times in total.

I do have some questions regarding balance, or whether something should be added or removed (Note: this post is subject to change as time goes by):

- Do any of the 4 major weapon lines, Machinegun, Cannon/Railgun, Rocket, and Laser, need any buffs or nerfs? If so, then what? (For example, are Rocket Assault Arrays OP compared to Mortars?)

Also, I'd like to see some recorded matches as part of the beta-testing process. (I know that I've started recording matches of my own, but these are mostly in Skirmish as I work on NullBotSW.)

Finally, I'm thinking about adding the following later on, though I'm uncertain if you guys would want them: (However, I cannot guarantee that they'll be added in.)

- Faster versions of existing propulsions (though they may be difficult or tricky to add due to the presence of this hidden in-game variable that affects engine power in a seemingly exponential way)- More heavy turrets for VTOLs- A Cruise Missile Firebase- A Cyborg Scout that acts as a sensor vehicle- A Cyborg Commander- A Counter-Battery Cyborg- A Radar Detector Cyborg

Last edited by Shadow Wolf TJC on 25 Feb 2013, 00:19, edited 6 times in total.

What do you mean by "structure designer"? Are you running any other mods along with this one? If so, then there may be compatability issues between the different mods.

If it's regarding why designable structures aren't appearing, it's because researching the structure bodies really does nothing, other than serving as a prerequisite towards unlocking the ability to research fully-complete structure templates (which I've set to finish instantly).

info |11:27:27: [createLimitSet:371] Too many structure statsinfo |11:27:27: [createLimitSet:371] Assert in Warzone: /Users/dak180/Applications/Build/wz2100/hg/wz2100-git/macosx/../src/multilimit.cpp:371 (numStructureStats < 255), last script event: 'N/A'info |11:27:32: [loadResearch:280] This research should not have a message associated with it, Automated Manufacturing Mk2 the message will be ignored!info |11:27:32: [loadResearch:280] Assert in Warzone: /Users/dak180/Applications/Build/wz2100/hg/wz2100-git/macosx/../src/research.cpp:280 (research.techCode == TC_MAJOR), last script event: '<none>'......info |11:27:32: [loadResearch:280] This research should not have a message associated with it, Railgun Target Prediction Computer Mk3 the message will be ignored!info |11:27:32: [loadResearch:280] Assert in Warzone: /Users/dak180/Applications/Build/wz2100/hg/wz2100-git/macosx/../src/research.cpp:280 (research.techCode == TC_MAJOR), last script event: '<none>'

Don't worry about those. It just means that there's missing messages for several research items, and that there's too many different kinds of structures in the mod for the debug menu to handle. However:

Check with the tips and tricks section that I made in the 1st post. I just added in some info regarding researching weapons. You could also take a look at prresearch.txt if you'd like.

Generally, if it has a high rate-of-fire, but low damage-per-shot (as seen in the design screen), then it's usually more effective against lighter targets, while if it has a lower rate-of-fire, but higher damage-per-shot, then it's usually more effective against heavily-armored targets. Also, if it deals large splash damage (such as with a Blunderbuss or fuel-air explosive), then it's usually designed for groups, while if it deals minimal splash damage (such as with those Sureshot Mortars and Howitzers), then it's usually more effective against individual targets.

By the way, what are some of your favorite things to use and research? Also, I wonder if this mod will appear on YouTube.